Closer
by ebon-drake
Summary: Lotor captures Allura again. Set about halfway through the DoTU timeline. This is also intended to be a loose sequel to "Interrogation." Primarily Lotor x Allura, but contains some elements of the Keith x Allura pairing, as well. Contains adult content, language, and themes. Reader discretion advised.


**Disclaimer: **Voltron and its characters, settings, and storyline are copyrighted by World Event Productions, Ltd. and Toei Animation Company. DDP comic concepts and ideas are copyrighted by Devil's Due Publishing. Cover image is a screenshot from Cheezey's website, Cossack the Terrible's Tour of Planet Doom. The title of this story is taken from the song "Closer" by Nine Inch Nails, which can be found on 1994 album, "The Downward Spiral." References to areas of the Denubian Galaxy (i.e. Azure Quadrant, Onyx Star System, etc.) are from the map developed by Shannon Muir and sanctioned by WEP. All other names, places, characters, and plot bunnies are my own unless otherwise noted. I am in no way affiliated with the aforementioned companies. No monetary profit is being made from this work, and no copyright infringement is intended. Please do not do not re-post or reuse this work without obtaining my written permission first. Thank you.

**Author's Note:** This was done as a sort-of collaborative challenge with another author, where Lotor gets his ebil hands on Allura and some bondage is involved. I decided to make this a loose sequel to my fic, "Interrogation." The interactions are pretty much between Lotor and Allura, but there are some Keith x Allura elements present, as well.

**Author's Note 2:** Revised this chapter somewhat (again) today (1/21). Ch. 2 should be on its way soon.

**WARNING: ****So... this story will have adult themes and content, albeit not super-duper graphic, and is not meant to be read by the underage or easily offended. If you fall into either category, please do not read any further. This story may also serve as trigger material for someone out there due to some non-con content, so reader discretion is most definitely advised.**

**Closer, Ch. 1**

When a lull in overall activity finally settled over the flagship _Kuunalda'a_, the Prince Imperial of Doom gave his second-in-command Mogor control of the bridge before stalking towards his stateroom for the night. A heady sense of anticipation weighed on him, but the expression on his face gave nothing away to the bowing crewmembers he passed by without so much as a second glance. He stopped briefly to punch in the code that would open the doors to his quarters and quickly entered. The rooms were a bit more modest in size compared to his personal apartments in Castle Doom, but they were no less luxuriously furnished. For once, they were bereft of the presence of any slaves.

Lotor made an immediate beeline for his sidebar as the metallic doors hissed shut behind him, steadfastly refusing to look at the other end of the room. This was a moment he had planned several weeks in advance for after several months of seemingly never-ending frustration and bitter disappointment that would have discouraged a lesser man, but he wanted to be collected before he finally feasted his eyes on the fruits of his labor. Breathing slowly, he took his time in removing his platinum war helm and placing it on the surface of the sidebar, shaking out his pale mane of hair as he did so. The gloves on his hands followed suit, and he then procured a wineglass and filled it with the red contents of the bottle nearest him. He bolted down the wine before pouring himself another glass and heading over to a nearby couch. The other side of the room began to enter his field of vision as he reclined, and since he was not yet ready, he closed his felinoid eyes and brought the glass to his lips, this time savoring the rich, slightly sour taste of the wine as it traveled past his tongue and down his throat. Only when the drink was finally gone did he at last open his eyes and look across at his hard-won prize.

She was unconscious for the time being, her statuesque body resting against the bulkhead. Dark-colored silk rope had been looped around her hands and forearms, binding them together, and secured to a fixture on the ceiling, drawing her to the balls of her feet. Her head had lolled to one side and lay now in the crook of a drawn-up arm, her features an exquisite cameo. The position her arms had been maneuvered into had also caused her small breasts to be thrust forward and presented to him like some sort of offering. Her flight suit had been removed and replaced with a lightweight, sleeveless dress, a concoction of white silk that was gathered underneath her bust and fell in strategically arranged folds to her feet. Although it covered more flesh than it ultimately revealed, the costly garment was nonetheless provocative; it hugged the curves of her petite frame like a lover's caress, and its low neckline and high slits showed the tops of her breasts and the outside edges of her legs all the way up to her hips. A veritable latticework of delicate platinum chains and pear- and oval-cut diamonds, ranging in size from small to the size of an outstretched thumb, rested on her shoulders and twined loosely around her upper arms and over the top half of her clothing below her chest, forming feminine loops and other subtle patterns over the ivory-colored silk. The simple chignon she normally wore had been undone and then redone in a more ornate style, her golden tresses woven into a tastefully elegant updo that left a few ringlets to trail down her vulnerable neck. She looked like a goddess that had been cast down from the heavens and held fast by mortal chains.

The Drule prince considered her stretched-out body like he would a work of art, for that was how she had been arranged for him. Her bondage and the opulence of her clothing was intended to be a message to her when she finally woke, a reminder of the wealth and power he could give her if he so chose to and that she was utterly at his mercy. He had also wanted to see her in raiment befitting her station and future role as his wife, and she looked marvelous in it.

She had been difficult to get to, but the very fact that he had finally overcome her talent to muddle his vision and render him powerless merely proved to him that he was on the right course and his fate was unfolding before his very eyes, with her as its focal point. He had captured her once before, just shortly after he had come back to Doom from his campaign to expand the Empire's reach, and that had been his awakening, or his downfall; it was sometimes hard for him to decide on which. She had set into him like a virulent infection, permeating his being with thoughts and dreams of her that had disturbed him initially. And yet, he did not necessarily resent this invasion anymore, for while she made things infinitely more complicated, she also completed him like no other person ever could. She gave him new focus, and it also didn't hurt that with her came access to a weapon so advanced that both the Alliance and the Empire were vying to gain custody of it.

After their first encounter, Lotor had attempted to recapture her several times, but this was before he had arrived at his epiphany concerning her and learned to better control her effect on him. She always managed to slip through his fingers, that is, until now. Currently, they were speeding away from the Azure Quadrant in the darkness of space with the Lions nowhere in sight. When they finally found out, the remaining Voltron Force pilots would expect for his ship to head straight into the Crimson Quadrant for Doom. Instead, he was taking a secret circuitous route towards a clandestine location; by the time they realized that they weren't going to find him where they thought he was going to be, it would be too late. She was finally his.

The prince set aside the empty glass he had in his right hand on a small table next to the plush couch he was sitting on. As much as he enjoyed contemplating this view of her, he found he was beginning to grow impatient for his captive muse to awaken. He sat now with his head tilted to one side, leaning on one hand propped up on the couch arm closest to him while the fingers of the other began to beat out a quiet tattoo on his left thigh, betraying the anxious mood he was in. He itched to do to her what he had been wanting to do to her for months on end in the worst way. His frustration towards her and her constant evasions of him had mounted to the point that no other person in the universe could have subdued it for him. Even now, he felt like he could have fallen upon her like a beast starved; the memory of her bare flesh pressed tightly against his own had merely served to whet his appetite for her, which was now insatiable.

Although she was here now, his battle with her was only half-way won. They were not yet on Doom, and simply taking her again would not help him accomplish his ultimate objective; she would be his wife, there was no question of that, but he wanted his desire for her to be mutual or, barring that, her acceptance of the situation at least because she at last understood that he was the reason that her planet had not yet been turned to ash and that he was being generous and considerate with her. He did not have to be. He was offering her the universe when he could simply destroy everything and take her as his rightfully won spoils of war. The valor and heroism she had displayed in all of their dogfights together had moved him, however.

And so even though he longed to bury his face in her neck and make her moan like a whore for him once more, Lotor waited. He sat tensely, his posture rigid, devouring her with his avid gaze as if he could make her wake with the sheer strength of his hunger and will alone.

A few more minutes ticked slowly by before he finally saw signs of her stirring. She groaned lightly for a moment as her eyelids fluttered, and then they flew open to reveal their oceanic blueness when she realized that she couldn't move her arms or hands. She inhaled sharply in fear, making her chest rise beautifully, but, to her credit, she didn't call out. Her eyes darted to her sides before ultimately settling on him and then widening in shock.

After a moment, she wet her lips and spoke, her voice impassive. "Lotor."

He inclined his head towards her in a motion of greeting that betrayed nothing of the flurry of emotions rushing through him. "Allura."

"Where are we?" the Princess of Arus queried after nervously licking her lips again.

A corner of his mouth twitched into a small smile that conveyed triumph without reveling in it, even though that was what he was privately doing at the moment.

"Not Arus," he finally told her.

Her face seemed to falter at that, despite the fact that she had to have known that her planet was the one place he would not stay when he had her at last safely in his grasp.

"They're going to come for me," she said quietly, both to reassure herself and quiet the panic that was presently nipping at her with its sharp, little teeth, and to let him know that this scheme, like all of his previous ones, was doomed to failure.

"Ah, but by the time that finally happens," he countered smoothly, and then his tone flattened, "It'll be too late."

Allura's eyes darted back and forth again and she strained fitfully against her bondage. When her efforts did not yield her the results that she wanted, she glanced back at him.

"Whatever you're planning, Lotor, this isn't going to work," she asserted, her words contrasting strongly with the dismay that was beginning to creep into the timbre of her voice; she clearly remembered what he was capable of, "And I've instructed my Prime Minister to not negotiate for my release should I be captured and taken hostage. It doesn't matter what you do to me - Arus won't surrender, not to you or your father."

The prince imperial seemed to weigh her words as he rose to his feet. She shrank back against the bulkhead as he did so, but rather than heading towards her, he instead retrieved his empty glass and strode back towards the sidebar in order to pour himself another drink.

He spoke to her as he moved, "Then it is fortunate that I am not here with you to negotiate the surrender of your planet." He then added, "And my father has nothing to do with this. This is between you and me, Allura."

His last words, although innocuous, carried suggestive undertones.

After he topped off his glass, he gestured the bottle towards her questioningly as if she were a visiting guest rather than a victim of one of his myriad abduction attempts. "Would you like me to pour you some?"

Allura was momentarily taken aback by the absurdity of his offer. She recovered quickly, however.

"No," she said curtly, turning her head to the side.

He shrugged inconsequentially at her snub and placed the container back on the sidebar. He took a swallow of his wine and returned slowly to the front of the couch, but he did not sit down. He considered her momentarily as he took another drink; she really was devastatingly beautiful.

The princess took notice of his scrutiny of her and shifted uncomfortably in her bonds. He was eyeing her up and down in a way that made her feel as if she were naked before him once more, even though she remained fully clothed. This thought then made her look down at what she was wearing, and she blanched.

"Where is my flight suit?" she asked suddenly, her pitch rising.

"It's gone," Lotor answered helpfully, and when he noticed her expression, his smile was urbane, "Relax, my... help saw to your needs while I was away. I haven't touched you."

If he was trying to be reassuring, then he was failing miserably; the memory of his previous assault on her was still fresh in her mind. Allura could almost hear the unspoken "Yet."

He gestured his half-empty wineglass towards her momentarily, making the liquid inside slide against the concave surface. "Do you like it?"

She clenched her teeth and looked back down at her garment.

"It's beautiful," she admitted grudgingly after a silent pause, "But what is the point of all of this?"

She was almost afraid of what his response was most likely going to be. She did not have to wait long.

He finished off his beverage and placed the glass back down on the small table. "What has my point always been?"

Now that the conversation was steering towards the subject that he wanted to talk about, Lotor began to step towards her, his movements fluid.

"You are mistaken if you think I will let you touch me again," she spat at him; the closer he came to her, the more skittish she was becoming.

Her statement did not seem to dissuade him. He kept walking in her direction.

"You speak as if you could actually prevent me from doing so if that was all I truly wanted to do," he said, "No, what I intend for you now is so much more."

Finally, he stood before her. Allura had to strain her head up to see his disgustingly chiseled face, he was so tall. Everything about him offended her: his overinflated sense of superiority, his selfishness, his unapologetic smugness, and his attractiveness that only made his deeds all the more horrific than they already were.

"Don't come near me," she commanded, the edge of desperation in her voice sharpening.

As she knew he would, he said, arrogantly, "No."

"Let me go!" she cried, tugging suddenly at her bonds.

Again, that damnable answer. "No."

She dared to lean forward and sneer at him, "Am I still so fearsome that you can't be in my presence unless I'm confined, o mighty slayer of innocents?"

A seductive half-smile flitted across the prince's azure features at her impertinence.

"Although I know you can handle yourself, no," he answered, laughing under his breath; he then brought his hand up and caressed her chin lightly, "It's just a reminder, that's all."

She wished she could wipe the self-satisfied expression from his face like she did the last time. With her fist.

"That you like to force yourself on helpless women?" she scoffed, momentarily forgetting that she was trussed up before him like a plucked game bird, "Sure, I remember. That's coming through loud and clear."

He came nearer and his tone dropped in volume, becoming intimate, "I've already told you that I scarcely think the word 'helpless' applies to you. No, it's simply a reminder of how things are - that your fate is completely dependent on my goodwill," his voice lowered even further, "And that the advantages Arus would reap in an alliance with Doom would far outweigh the disadvantages that you think are there."

Aghast, Allura tried to yank her head away, but he noticed and strengthened his grip on her chin. She was forced to look up at him, and his golden gaze searched her face and seemed to swallow her whole.

"You speak as if there were benefits to condescending to be your wife," she finally snarled, the very idea of being married to him making her feel ill.

Of all the people to be bound to in matrimony, Lotor was probably the last person that she would have chosen. He had none of the redeeming features that she would have sought in a husband: compassion, reverence, honor, and sacrifice. She could say that he didn't lack for perseverance, but that was probably the kindest thing she could have said about him.

"I don't think you are quite seeing the entire picture for what it is," he warned her, interrupting her thoughts as he did so.

"Oh," she contradicted him wearily, "I have."

He hooded his eyes at her suddenly. "Oh, really? You act as if becoming the empress of the most powerful civilization in the Denubian Galaxy is a small thing."

Allura would have spat out further denials, but he interrupted her before she could do so.

"And if neither my devotion, the honor of being my wife, or the subsequent wealth and power that would be at your disposal matters to you, I would have thought that your world's need to rebuild would be at the forefront of your mind," the Drule prince continued scornfully, "You profess to be willing to do anything for your people, and yet you claim you would rather die than do your duty as their princess."

"Only with you!" she snapped, stung by his insinuations.

He considered her for a moment before speaking once more.

"No, I think you are hoping to do it with another," he said slyly, an unreadable expression in his felinoid eyes, "With a certain Commander Kogane, if I am not mistaken."

She was at first so stunned that he knew of her confused feelings regarding the Black Lion pilot that she could not speak. He took in her stricken look and his saturnine grin widened.

"Oh, yes, I know far more about you and the rest of those pilots than you can possibly know. I don't see the appeal, personally, but I do know how seductive a rescuer can look to a victim. Let me tell you, though, Allura, he is not the man for you."

"And I suppose you think you are?" she said nastily.

"I know I am," he replied, unperturbed by her attempt to deflect his probing, "Which is why it pains me to see you devoting yourself to an illusion, and such a tragic one at that."

"What are you talking about?" she asked, suddenly wary.

"They may look very upstanding and noble, but your precious Voltron Force are not who they appear to be," he said, relinquishing his hold on her chin so that he could brush her cheek with his fingertips, "They are criminals, deviants, and outcasts. The Alliance cared so much for your plight that they sent you the dregs of their men. To help you? Perhaps. But to recover Voltron? Most definitely."

It took all of Allura's willpower to avoid flinching away from him. The recollection of his touch and the twisted reactions he could elicit from her with it still burned her. She could not find it in her to speak.

"Did you not know? Their original mission was to deliver the mecha into Alliance custody," Lotor continued.

She froze at that statement. Voltron and its technology had been used as bait in order to attract the Alliance's attention, but they never would have stolen it from Arus.

_...Even if was for the greater good?..._, the chilling words ran through her mind.

"No, you lie," she finally uttered, licking her dry lips again.

"Why would I lie? I find that the truth serves my purposes better than any lie ever could," he disagreed with a poorly hidden look of amusement in his eyes, "While you are always quick to call me a monster and a liar, I at least have never hidden my agenda."

"And as for Kogane...," he supplemented, "While your affections for him now are innocent enough, are you so certain his would be if he even returned them? The throne of Arus would be a weighty prize for a commoner to obtain. How do you know he would not usurp it for himself, or his Alliance?"

Her blood ran cold at his suggestion. "No, you're wrong! He's an honorable man!"

"Oh, he very well could. And assuming that I had even allowed you to make him your consort, the nobility of your planet would certainly not suffer a commoner on the throne. I would not be surprised if they would have sought to supplant you with a family who kept better faith with Arusian traditions; while you have no direct heirs, you do have a blood aunt, do you not?"

The princess visibly bridled at his implication that he held such power over her personal choices.

"They would never do that!" she protested.

Lotor shrugged. "Perhaps, perhaps not. Your people do not seem to reciprocate the great love you have for them; they did not seem to love you so well when they were calling for you to abdicate your claim to the throne not so long ago. They probably downright resent you for your righteousness and lack of self-sacrifice. Every time you resist me, they are the ones who suffer."

"That was your doing, not mine!" she retorted as she shook her head in a negating manner at his attempts to torment her, "Now stop it! You are merely trying to gain the upper hand!"

He threw his head back and laughed. "My dear girl, I already have the upper hand. You think your planet has held out against me for so long because I'm incapable? Think again. I am the only person who has stood between you and oblivion so far. Voltron is an impressive piece of technology, but it is far from infallible, and the only reason why I haven't decimated Arus is because of you. I do not particularly like to lose a battle, especially considering that it has never happened to me before I came to your planet, which I think would tell you something about the depth of what I feel for you. I would think twice before dismissing my offer so readily... As I have told you, I don't have to honor you like this."

Her limpid gaze immediately tightened.

"Then don't," she bit out tersely.

He looked at her for a moment before questioning her, and her expression confirmed his suspicions. "Are you still hoping for someone to come to your aid? A certain pilot, perhaps?"

"He-They will," she refuted him.

"Are you sure? Even if you refuse to accept the reality of the situation, I doubt they or your people do," he countered, "Your mistake is that you think everyone is as noble of purpose as you. Without you, the Alliance will finally have the excuse they need, and your people might find the idea of sacrificing you acceptable if it contributed to the continued wellbeing of their children and livelihoods. Your Prime Minister would probably all but serve you up on a platter to me if it meant the freedom of Arus."

"Stop it!" she repeated herself, her eyes widening in horror at his words.

They would never abandon her like how he was suggesting...

Her awareness of Lotor suddenly sharpened when he brought himself closer to her, one hand on the wall and one on her waist.

He uttered lowly into her ear, making her tremble as his lips brushed her lobe, "I still remember our first time. Do you dream of it as I do?"

Allura paled even as her breathing hitched.

"No, and you're fucking psychotic if you think otherwise," she swore, turning her head away from him so that he could not see the look that joined the horror present in her eyes.

She felt the warm breath of his sensual chuckle and then his tongue laving her throat. "I see that your manners still leave much to be desired, even after all this time."

She stiffened against him, but he merely smiled to himself and kept talking.

"You can lie to others, you can lie to yourself, but I know the truth... The only reason Kogane even elected to leave Earth was because he was so utterly destroyed by his woman's death that he felt he had nothing left to live for. Even if he was accepted as your consort and he is as altruistic as you claim, you could never be happy with a man so unwilling to let go of his past, a man with such a divided heart. I can give you things that he can't, and with me, you would be my one and only. Be my wife..."

A choked sound arose from her. "Even if any of that were true, do you honestly think that that's enough for me to hand everything over to you?"

If he found her disbelief off-putting, he gave no sign of it. His tone was as cajoling as a demon tempting a mortal into selling their soul.

"You misunderstand me, Allura... My methodology has perhaps been a little unorthodox, but I do not seek to throw you down, but rather, elevate you up. I know how difficult it must be for you... bereft of family, with such a burden on your shoulders and enemies on all sides who would love to see you fall. I would help you, be your family, ease that burden. As an ally of the Empire, your people would know peace and prosperity. That is what you ultimately want, isn't it?"

She began to sputter. "Yes, but -"

Her words died in her throat when she felt her back bump roughly into the bulkhead behind her as Lotor closed the distance between their bodies entirely.

"Allura, you can accomplish more good for yourself and your people as my wife than you would by continuing this futile conflict," he murmured thickly, his breath warm on her skin.

Even with the network of diamonds that draped her dress, she could still feel the hardness of his regrettably memorable physique as he pressed into her. The gesture was such a ghost of the memory of their previous time together, it made her shudder. To her horror, she felt herself becoming wet.

What was wrong with her? For a brief, insane moment, she could sense herself descending down into the fantasy world he was describing, and what frightened her the most was how inviting it was starting to seem to her. If he were telling the truth, then there would be an end to the fighting and a chance to rebuild, but at what cost? He had demonstrated numerous times that the only interests he was faithful to were his own.

She squirmed fretfully against him as her mind returned to reality; always he was able to make her feel so small and powerless, almost as if she were being inexorably dragged towards the center of an impossibly wide maelstrom. She knew that if she did not fight, that she would slip below and into the world of shadow beneath, and this thought was too much for her to bear. If she gave in, then Voltron would be destroyed, or worse, misused, her people would become slaves once more, and she would never see Arus again.

Allura balled her bound hands into fists and dug her nails into her palms in order to distract herself from the thought of his body and what he could do to her with it.

"Talk as much as you want, but you don't know me half as well as you think you do if you think I can be intimidated into surrendering Voltron. I will not hand over my father's legacy for it to be tainted and used to perpetuate your twisted agenda!"

She felt him exhale heavily against her, as if disappointed, and then the sensation of him biting not-so-gently down on her neck, making her gasp aloud in pain.

The Drule prince lapped lightly at the blood he had brought to the surface of her skin; she had imbibed of him last time, it was now his turn, and her taste was intoxicating.

"Allura, let me put this to you as plainly as possible: you are just barely maintaining your balance on a dangerously narrow precipice," he explained, his voice deepening with arousal as he rose up from her so he could look down into her eyes, "You are alone, and the only reason you and your people are still alive is not because of Voltron, but because it is my whim. In my generosity and mercy, I have extended you an unheard of offer, but because of your stubbornness, you force me to make that decision for you. You call me a monster, but your esteem of me and my empire is irrelevant - you _are_ going to be my wife, and if Arus must be razed for you to finally see reason, then so be it. You can be noble and spare your people the needless bloodshed, or you can let them die because you refuse to set aside your self-righteous hypocrisy; whichever option you choose is of no consequence to me."

She swelled with impotent fury at the finality of his statement.

"I hate you!" she hissed in a strangled voice, her delicate features hardening into an expression of utmost loathing.

"We both know that that's not completely true," he said knowingly, another one of his infuriating smirks sliding across his face.

He leaned down towards her, and the look in her cerulean eyes swiftly became replaced by one of fear as she saw him closing in on her.

"Lotor, don't-"

The warmth of his lips upon her own created an instantaneous spark of heat that rushed through her even as the thought of him and what he stood for set her skin to crawling.


End file.
